Avs' early lead stands

McLeod scores twice and rookie Stewart nets his first goal, but Svatos is injured.

Avs goalie Peter Budaj makes a save against the Kings on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center. Budaj made 29 saves and let only one shot get past him in earning his 11th victory of the season.
( Michael Martin, Getty Images
)

When Cody McLeod is throwing his fists in the air multiple times for things other than trying to land one against an opponent's face, you know it's probably a good night for the Avalanche.

It was — to the tune of a 6-1 Colorado victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center. For the first time since Oct. 28, the Avs (14-13-1) have more victories than losses. They are 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Thanks to two goals from fourth-liner McLeod and rookie Chris Stewart's first career goal, the Avs built a 6-0 lead in the second period. The final 35 minutes basically were garbage time.

"We went to the net extremely well early and took advantage of the opportunities that we had," Avs coach Tony Granato said.

"We've been paying the price in front of the net the last few weeks. Sometimes we haven't been (rewarded). So to chip a few in tonight and a couple somewhat ugly goals was a nice thing."

The only bummer for the Avs was the second-period loss of winger Marek Svatos to a back injury, but the team doesn't believe it's too serious. Before he left, Svatos got the Avs scoring going with a goal against Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera, who was dreadful for the second time this season against Colorado.

"I think we basically just played real hard for 60 minutes. And we have to keep doing that, whether it's like tonight, a 6-1 game, or when it's a 2-1 game," Avs veteran Ian Laperriere said.

McLeod had the night's most comical moment, although none of the Kings thought it funny.

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After scoring his second goal of the night in the second period for a 5-0 lead, he was confronted in the corner by 6-foot-4, 256-pound Kings winger Raitis Ivanans. After some pushing and shoving, an animated McLeod taunted Ivanans and the Kings, shouting and pumping his arms. Surprisingly, no fight between the two happened the rest of the game, probably because referees appeared to sternly warn both benches no more shenanigans would be tolerated. Plus, McLeod admitted, the massive Ivanans is "a little out of my league" as a fighter.

"I was just happy I scored the goal. I just got a couple lucky bounces tonight," said McLeod, who has five goals. "I was stuck at three there for a while. That's kind of my game — just crash and bang and get to the net."

Stewart, who assisted on McLeod's second goal, will always remember it was LaBarbera in net when he put home his first NHL puck. It came not long after Stewart had finished serving a minor penalty but with Avs defenseman Ruslan Salei still in the box. Stewart took a nice lead pass from Laperriere and had his first shot on a breakaway stopped by LaBarbera, but he put in his rebound at 11:18 for Colorado's second short-handed goal in four games.

Stewart, 21, said his first call after the game would be to his father.

"I've probably got three messages from him right now," Stewart said. "I was so excited. I'm still so excited."

Said LaBarbera: "They got every bounce you can have in a game. But we just weren't ready tonight."

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.